


Ketchup and Muse-tard

by Checklatechippancakes



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Ai is a lil shit, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Muses, Other, Vrains Rare Pair Week 2018, can be seen as Ai/Yuusaku/Kusanagi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 08:58:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18258029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Checklatechippancakes/pseuds/Checklatechippancakes
Summary: Kusanagi decides to go along with Ai's request to be the new mascot (sort of)





	Ketchup and Muse-tard

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this for Rare-pair week back in December but didn't finish on time.  
> Day 5: Muse

It was slow night at Cafe Nagi. Kusangi didn’t mind it, considering Yuusaku was there, and he wasn’t the type to die of loneliness that quickly anyways. He flipped a hot dog over, piercing it with the meat thermometer, glancing at it a second before turning to Yuusaku. “They’re good if you want to watch over them.”

“Going home?” Yuusaku asked, bowing up his apron.

Kusanagi was about to say something before he was cut off. “Does Kusanagi even have a home?” Ai asked, leaning over the bulb of Yuusaku’s Duel Disc. “I thought he  _ lived  _ in this grease pit.”

“Actually,” Kusanagi said, folding his apron and putting it in the supply closet, “I just remembered something I have to do here.”

“Go on…” Ai said, waving his hand around. “Can’t you see that Yuusaku is waiting on his toes to hear what you’re planning?” Yuusaku shot him a quick unamused look before turning back to the grill.

Kusangi pulled out a pad of paper and a set of pencils from the supply closet, turning to Ai with a smile. “Remember when you asked about being my new mascot?”

“Please tell me you’re kidding,” Yuusaku whispered, tilting sideways, head resting on Kusangi’s shoulder, practically seeing the exclamation point appear over Ai’s head.

Ai rubbed at where his chin would be if he was more human-like. “I’d say I recall such a conversation…” He enthusiastically shot a few poses, flexing his arms and absently-coded muscles. “Well? Like what you see, ol’ hot doggy?” Yuusaku groaned, turning back to the hot dogs.

Kusanagi just laughed, clapping a hand on Yuusaku’s worried shoulder, walking over to sit at the desk chair. “Well, actually, I’d prefer a more… uh… natural pose?”

Ai crossed his arms with a bark of laughter. “I’m AI; I’m the most inorganic thing here, other than what  _ you  _ consider Grade A beef.”

“Hey,” Kusanagi hissed. “My hot dogs are high quality. Also **_not_** something we say in the truck, young man.”

“Fine, fine,” Ai said lowering his bright solid yellow eyes in exasperation. If he had a mouth he’d probably pout.

“Just face me…” Kusanagi directed, squinting and lining up the top of his pencil to Ai’s head. “Perfect.”

Ai cocks his head to the side. “Hey hey, what’s with all the precision? You’re not going to  _ shoot  _ me, right?”

Kusanagi laughed, flipping through pages of doodles and checklists he still hadn’t finished. “No, I’d just like to make sure I get you at a good angle. Your stripes get funky sometimes when I look at you; I don’t want you to look weird.” Yuusaku mumbled something that they couldn’t hear, but both could figure what the concept was.

“So you just want me to stand here, motionless, while you draw me?” Ai asked, trying his best not to move.

“Should be easy,” Kusanagi said, “you don’t have a mouth so I can still draw you while we talk.”

Yuusaku wrapped a hot dog up, handing it to a customer. “And we both know he couldn’t possibly  _ not  _ talk for more than five minutes.”

Ai’s desire to turn and glare at Yuusaku almost reached its maximum, but he stayed still, feeling the pressure of Kusangi’s gaze on him. “You can’t see it, but I’m mad at you.” 

Yuusaku simply nodded, not turning to him. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just take a picture of Ai and do this at home?”

“Trying to get rid of me that much?” Kusanagi asked, waggling his eyebrow teasingly. Yuusaku didn’t stir. “Also nah, I’d rather get it in person, in case it was at a bad angle or I wanted to try something different.” He started sketching at Ai’s head. Weirdly shaped like a glass bead; yin without a yang. Bright yellow oval eyes, smack in the middle of the bulb of the head, purple veins piecing it all together.  _ Well, he was essentially designed by a six year old... _

As Kusanagi worked away at sketching, Ai couldn’t help but continue wasting his time. “So, Yuusaku,” Ai said, staying still as possible, “has Kusanagi ever drawn  _ you? _ ”

“Kusanagi expressed an interest in sports as a child,” Yuusaku stated flatly, turning the hot dogs to their side. “He expressed no previous interest in art, and I’m not the type to want pictures of myself anyways.”

Ai’s eyes fell flat, resisting the urge to cross his arms. “Geez, knowing you, you probably sulked off camera when your class took their picture.”

“There’s no photographic evidence that I did that.”

Kusanagi tapped the eraser head of his pencil to the paper, snickering. “Come on you two, I can’t concentrate when you’re make me laugh.” Yuusaku turned back to apologize to Kusanagi, not acknowledging Ai with his glance. “If all goes well,” Kusanagi said, erasing the stray marks, “I should be done in a  _ fewwww  _ more minutes.”

Ai sighed in relief. “Thank goodness. I’ll be able to move again.”

He finished the scratch marks, grouping the the pencils together, noting that some would need to be sharpened later. “Alright I’m done. You can breathe now.”

With that, Ai sucked in air, letting it out heavily, snapping to attention halfway. “Hey! You know I don’t need to breathe!” He sank into the Duel Disc, watching Kusanagi gather and put away the materials. “Well? Gonna show us?”

Stopping before the cabinet, Kusanagi tore the paper from the pad. He placed it on the work space, just far enough away that Ai wasn’t able to see the drawing. “No time to colour it. Good thing you’re mostly dark colours.” He tossed the keys to Yuusaku, who caught them without turning from the grill. “You know what to do. See you tomorrow. Be careful.”

Yuusaku turned to Kusanagi with a quick small smile. “I will be. Visiting Jin soon?”

“Soon as I can.” Kusanagi waved, leaving the truck into the cold night air.

About to look back at the grill, Yuusaku noted Ai on his stomach (did Ignis actually have those? Ai did eat a few people after all…) making grabby hands at the paper in front of him, which was still out of reach. Yuusaku picked the paper up, Ai trying to grab at it as it went. Yuusaku smirked, paper close to his face, curved in a way so Ai couldn’t see through the opposite side. “He really gets you.”

“Gimmmiiiiiie!” Ai whined, stretching his body to get a glimpse. Satisfied, Yuusaku handed him the sheet. Snatching it, Ai huffed. “I’d say ‘thank you’, but I don’t think you deserve it.” Yuusaku didn’t react. “Now let’s see-” Ai choked on his words, flabbergasted. His head looked normal (even if the meatbag’s drawing’s curvature wasn’t correct) but the body…

“I think we should make you a little hot dog suit,” Yuusaku mused, lips curled to a small smile. 

Ai crossed his arms, slapping the paper back onto the counter, picture side down. “And  _ I  _ think he should have stuck with soccer.”


End file.
